It’s a great time to be a designer in Canada, says painter designer Zoe Pawlak, because many of its cities have reached a level of maturity in terms of the quality of design they produce.

Pawlak, who started out as a painter in B.C. and became known for her figurative work and contemporary West Coast landscapes, has found wider recognition within the design community in the past couple of years through collaborations with the likes of Burritt Bros., producing two rug collections, and furniture designer Jeff Martin, to create a line of highly custom credenzas.

“They were hand-painted, original pieces,” Pawlak says. “And we did some other pieces as well and exhibited those in various places, including ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair, in New York) and IDS (Interior Design Show) West (now IDS Vancouver).”

Pawlak’s diversification into product design, alongside art, was a natural progression, she says.

“You can only physically make so many things yourself, per month,” she says. “And so I was at — and am still — at my maximum capacity for how much painting I can make, and so once you reach that point, you can increase your prices or you can diversify to different products, or different markets, and so that’s a decision that I’ve made along the way for various reasons.”

Her output has increased considerably since moving to Montreal, for a number of reasons, she says — mainly for the lower cost of living.

“It’s not just the fact that it’s cheaper,” she says. “It’s that you can get more value for your dollar, so we pay the same amount for rent for example, but have a four-bedroom house. The same with the studio.

“The studio’s about three times what I had in Vancouver, and then I can have staff, and their cost of living is lower, so then they can afford to live off less, so there’s so many ways reasons why the cost of living can enhance the quality and quantity of what you’re able to make.

“And it’s improved the studio practice and production vastly.”

Pawlak says the move has also helped her grow her markets in Toronto and New York, as it’s much easier to “hop over for meetings.” Her paintings are now represented by New York gallery Uprise Art, and “they’re doing quite well for me,” she says.